Infants and other incontinent individuals wear absorbent articles such as diapers to receive and contain urine and other body exudates. In general, absorbent articles function both to contain the discharged materials and to isolate these materials from the body of the wearer and from the wearer's garments and bed clothing. However, in some instances, particularly absorbent articles used for potty training, the absorbent article may be designed such that the discharged materials, specifically urine, are not isolated from the body of the wearer. Regardless of whether the discharged materials are isolated from the wearer's body, it is important to completely eliminate or at least minimize leakage from the absorbent article.
In an effort to control leakage from absorbent articles, many improvements have been made in the field of elastics and elastic like materials. Despite these improvements, absorbent articles still have a tendency to sag or gap away from the body of the wearer during wear. This sagging/gapping is caused by the relative motions of the wearer as the wearer breathes, moves and changes positions, by the downward forces generated when the absorbent article is loaded with exudates, and by the deformation of the materials of the absorbent article itself when subjected to such wearer's motions. This sagging/gapping of the absorbent article can lead to premature leakage and poor fit of the absorbent article about the wearer in the waist regions and the leg regions of the absorbent article.
In order to more snugly fit absorbent articles about the waist of the wearer, certain commercially available absorbent articles have been provided with elastic waist features. Elastic waist features will typically comprise an elasticized waistband consisting of an elastic member contractibly affixed between the topsheet and the backsheet. The elasticized waistband is designed to expand and contract with the wearer's motions and to maintain the fit of the absorbent article about the waist of the wearer during use. However, it has been found that absorbent articles having elastic waist features also have a tendency to sag/gap and slide/slip during use. Further, the elastic waist feature has a tendency to rollover or roll-in at the front of the diaper resulting in a lack of fit about the waist of the wearer.
Similarly, leg elastics have been utilized in absorbent articles to try to preclude leakage about the legs of the wearer. However, leg elastics have not sufficiently reduced the amount of leakage in absorbent articles, and, in particular, leakage has been an issue in absorbent articles which include an absorbent core of a narrow crotch width. The leg elastics can be tensioned in order to maximize the leakage performance of the leg elastics; however, tensioning of the leg elastics tends to reduce the natural convection within the absorbent article. As the natural convection decreases, the relative humidity within the absorbent article increases. This increase in relative humidity in turn increases the chances of redmarking the wearer's skin.
The addition of containment flaps has also been utilized to help reduce leakage, but such absorbent articles have still had an undesirable amount of leakage. The containment flaps are often equipped with high tension elastics in order to maintain contact with the wearer's skin. As a consequence of the high tension elastics, a higher localized pressure against the skin of the wearer is created which increases the likelihood of redmarking the wearer's skin. Unfortunately, the problem of redmarking is often exacerbated by the movement of the wearer, because the skin of the wearer moves relative to the high tension elastics. Also, because the high tension elastics increase the friction between the wearer's skin and the high tension elastics, the likelihood and severity of abrasion to the skin as well as the likelihood and severity of redmarking is increased.
Therefore, there exists a need for an absorbent article to have improved leakage characteristics under compressive forces with consideration given to the movements of the wearer. There is a need for an absorbent article that reacts to the wearer and can provide maximum leakage protection when the leakage protection is needed the most. Also, the absorbent article should provide this protection while maximizing the comfort to the wearer.